Jay-Z has long backed President Obama, and after last week's headline-making news that Obama supports same-sex marriage, the hip-hop mogul is applauding the president for breaking new ground and helping bring progress in the gay-rights movement.

"I've always thought it as something that was still holding the country back," Jay-Z told CNN in Philadelphia, where he announced the launch of the Made in America festival. "What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love. That's their business. It's no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination, plain and simple."

Asked whether the declaration would cost Obama votes among religious African-Americans in his re-election bid, Hov said, "It's really not about votes. It's about people," adding, "I think it's the right thing to do as a human being."

"It was definitely happy news, but I almost don't want to applaud him too much, because I wish he would have done this a long time ago," Perez Hilton told MTV News. "Having said that, it's better that he did it than not. He could have waited until after the election. However, it's clearly a calculated move in that he felt confident that this won't hurt his chances at getting re-elected, and that's why he did it."